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Planning a wedding can be scary: There are so many details to consider, the venue, the bouquet, the braid’s maid dresses, everything is important. But many times the anxiety of wedding planning comes from not knowing what to expect. From budgeting to deciding on the number of guest to invite, this article will give you an understanding of what you need to know about wedding planning.

It’s all about the budget

The first thing you need to know about wedding planning is that you have to set a budget. Budgeting is not the most glamorous or fun part of wedding planning, but it’s the most important step, and in the end you’ll be happy did. The right questions can help you figure out how much you will need to spend:

Are you paying for the whole wedding yourself?

Are your parents paying for it?

Are you going to have help paying for some of the expenses?

Once you have set the budget, stick with it. Sometimes we It’s easy to start thinking of all the fun and wonderful details things that will make your wedding just perfect. After you have the budget figure out then is time But, you have to decide what is moredetails are most important to you in regards of your wedding. Do What do you want to spend more money on: the food or, the cake? , your Dressdress, flowers entertainment, or the venue? Make Making a list to will help you and decide what you can cut or are you willing to spend less inwant to focus your money on.

Budgeting is not the most glamorous or fun part of wedding planning, but it’s the most important step, and in the end you’ll be happy did.

expect the unexpected

Another thing that you need to know about wedding planning is that not everything will will bego according to plan, and you will have to be willing toso be flexible. I am not saying that it will be a disaster or that it will destroy your perfect day but you have to keepKeep in mind that there are many moving parts and that need to coordinate with one another and sometime it isit can be difficult for everyone to be on the same page. This could be a very small detail like the flower girl lost a shoe to, or a larger potential catastrophe such as the weather changed and now you have to take your wedding inside insteada change in weather if you’re having an outdoor wedding. You have to be prepared to deal with the situation. And that takes me to the next point, when planning your wedding keep in mind the weather of when you want to get married to decide on the venue and if it will be an inside or outside wedding.

It’s okay to ask for help

We tend to want to do everything ourselves, but somethimessometimes we need some help. this is the time to decideDo you have it in your budget to hire a wedding planner? Or, will will you rely on your maid of honor to help you with the planning?

Asking for help also touches on expecting the unexpected. Your loved ones want to see you happy on your wedding day, so don’t be afraid of asking for help from family and friends, especially if an unexpected challenge comes up.

Size does matter!

How big is your wedding going to be?

When making the wedding guest list keep in mind who you really want to share your day with.. Are you going to invite your childhood friends who you only communicate thru through facebookFacebook on their birthday? Or, are will you going to have an intimate wedding with your family and closest friends? Who do you want to see and share one of the most important moments of your life with? The size of your wedding depends on you, keep in mind that you can have a perfect small, and luxurious wedding and still be in youron budget.

Are you going to have a wedding party or is it going to be just your maid of honor and best man?

Finally, Take a moment to take it all in and enjoy your planning

Event through the chaos and pressure, take some time to step back and look at your wedding as a whole. Every decision made and vendor booked is an accomplishment. It will be much less stressful if you focus on the progress rather than the incomplete list. And remember to enjoy the moments spent with family and friends.

Your wedding reception is a celebration to one of your most memorable days of your life. Guests will sit at their tables, enjoy their dinner while conversing with friends and family, eagerly waiting for the dancefloor to open. But keeping the dancefloor full and jumping requires a song list that excites guests, encouraging them to kick off their shoes and keep the party going!

Creating your perfect dance list doesn’t have to be a chore as long as you keep a few things in mind, and we have some quick tips to help create a song list that will kick out the jams!

Prime the Dance Floor

You want to choose a song that calls your guests out onto the dancefloor. The song should let guests know that the floor is a safe place to let go of their insecurities and inspire them to dance the night away. Movement on the dance floor is the goal, so pick a song with a strong beat that’s irresistible to tap your foot to.

Choose the Hits

Select songs that people know, even if you think they might be overplayed. Playing tunes that guests are familiar with will help keep them get into the party mood. Remember, fun is contagious and guest want to let loose. Songs that incite a sing along can help bring people who are sitting on the sidelines break out of their shell and bust a move on the dance floor.

Mix it Up

You want to make the dancefloor accessible to everyone, so don’t be afraid to add different styles of music. If you know that some of guests love country music, put a couple of danceable country songs in the set. There are a lot of great crossover songs with great rhythms to dance to. Also, don’t be afraid of the older hits. There are some amazing dance songs from the 1970s and 1980s. More importantly, having classic songs in the mix will invite your older guests to join the festivities. But be for warned, you might be witness to some vintage dance moves like the running man, and the robot.

It’s important not to get hung up on the small details of your song list. The band or DJ that you are working with can help you fine tune your list. The important thing to do is have fun, after all that is the main objective of the reception … to celebrate good times!

Refreshments are very important to a successful party. You want to make sure that you purchased enough drinks to keep your guests happy. But, you also want to ensure that you cater to the needs of party goers. Most people tend to only consider alcoholic beverages when planning the refreshment menu, but what about those individuals who do not drink liquor or are designated drivers? What are you going to serve them? We have collected some of the most fantastic non-alcoholic cocktails that will impress your guests.

1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add 4 bags of mint tea. Allow to steep for 10 minutes. Discard tea bags and pour tea into a small pitcher. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until well chilled.

1 To make Rosemary Simple Syrup: Add 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup sugar to a pot. Add rosemary. Bring to a simmer and cook until all sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Strain into a small resealable container. Let cool completely.

2 To make the drink: Pour grapefruit juice and simple syrup in a Tom Collins glass. Stir to mix. Fill glass with ice and top off with seltzer water. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and a slice of grapefruit.

There are so many moving parts to planning a wedding, and sometimes it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of every aspect. Luckily the internet is loaded with tools to help you stay organized and keep you inspired with wedding ideas. We searched and reviewed a number of wedding websites and found five great sites to help you plan your wedding.

This site is super easy to navigate, you can find vendors, venues, and tips for your big day! Wedding.com has an easy to follow “how to get started” guide and a checklist to help you stay organized. The site’s layout makes it super easy to find blog posts that provide a number ideas for wedding favors, boutonnieres, and centerpieces.

Weddingwire.com is a great site for brides to be that don’t know where to start in their planning. Just answer 10 simple questions and WeddingWire will give you a quick guide of what you need to do. Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re half-way done with the wedding planning, this tool can help you! We really liked the customizable check list.

Are you wondering if you are asking potential vendors the right questions? Or, perhaps you want to make sure that you hire a wedding planner that best suits your needs? Here Comes the Guide is full of terrific questions to ask vendors and wedding planners. It’s also full of fantastic checklist to help you stay organized. They even have a budget checklist that tells you how much you should spend on attire, food, food, and drinks!

Wow! This site is full of content that is designed to inspire! It has tons of photos of gowns, cakes, bridesmaids’ dresses, hairstyles, and the list goes on. Perfectweddingguide.com also has a great collection of blog posts that tackle little thought of wedding planning subjects like the “Pros and Cons to Reception Table Shapes”, and “Wedding Insurance 101”.

Knot.com is a great website to find local vendors for all your needs: florist, bridal salons, venues, photographers, they have it. They also offer custom Snapchat filters that are fun and add the perfect touch to the pictures you share with your friends and family.

Estimating the amount of adult beverages that you’ll need for an event can seem like an overwhelming task, but it is much simpler than you might think. We have created a guide to help you figure out what to serve and how much to buy.

To get started you have to decide on what type of bar you will be offering: Will it be a full bar, or a wine and beer bar? A full bar typically consists of 50% wine, 20% beer, and 30% spirits. You will need 60% wine and 40% beer to stock a wine and beer bar. You can adjust these percentages according to the tastes of your guests. For example, let’s say that you will have a wine and beer bar and you know that there are more beer drinkers than wine, you could lessen the amount of wine to 35% and increase beer to 65%.

Understanding the average consumption of drinks per hour will give you an idea of the amount of beverages that will be served. Most adults will have two drinks during the first hour of the event, and one drink every hour after. The following formula will be helpful when you begin planning your purchase.

(Drinks per Person, including 2 drinks in first hours) x (Number of Guests) = (Total Drinks)

An example for a 3 hour event will look like this:

(4 Drinks per Person) x (75 Guests) = (300 Total Drinks for Event)

Now for the breakdown of how many bottles to buy. A standard 750ml bottle of wine will serve about 5 glasses, and a 1.75 liter bottle of spirit will have a little over 39 shots. Beer can be a bit trickier, as you have the choice of buying cans/bottles or serving from a keg. We will first look at how many bottles of wine and spirits will be needed, then we can explore our beer options.

Using our example for a 3 hour event with 75 guests we would have to plan for at least 300 drinks. When we break this amount down to our 50-20-30 bar ratio, we see that we’ll need 150 glasses of wine, 60 servings of beer, and 90 shots of spirits. We know that there are 5 glasses per one 750ml bottle of wine, so we divide Servings Needed by Serving per Bottle.

Wine would look like this:

(150 Servings Needed) / (5 Servings per 750ml Bottle) = 30 Bottles

And spirits would be:

(90 Servings Needed) / (39 Servings per 1.75L Bottle) = 2.3 Bottles

As we mentioned, beer is bit trickier. Sometimes buying cans or bottles can be a better choice than buying a keg. This choice could be dependent on price and/or number of servings needed. One thing to consider when buying a keg is that you will have to put a deposit down on the keg and tap, and many times stores will charge you per day on the use of the tap. The other thing to think about is how much a keg will hold. There are three sizes of American kegs, the two most common are 15.5 gallon and 7.75 gallon kegs. The 15.5 gallon will yield about 200 servings, and the 7.75 gallon keg have about 100 servings if you are pouring 10oz glasses. Buying a keg might not be the best option since we only need 60 servings of beer, you would have 40 extra servings at the end of the event.

We hope that you find this guide helpful, and that your event is grand success. Keep visiting us to learn more useful tips!